Friday Insider: Real story on Russ, Part XXVII

ATLANTA -- A weekly feature aimed at rounding up a whole lot of odds and ends from a whole lot of time spent around our local teams …

• Every time Neal Huntington speaks a syllable about Russell Martin, it's being parsed like a State of the Union speech or, more oddly, being portrayed as hyperventilating hot news. But the reality is that not a solitary facet of this story has changed over the course of the summer.

And that's the real story.

When I reported in mid-August that the Pirates had not approached Martin with an extension offer, it kind of stirred the nests in either camp. That happens a lot in this business. A story you put out one day will lead to even more information coming loose, often volunteered, because the various parties will have a reaction and want to make their perspective known.